Former Florida edge rusher Jack Pyburn to spend final year of eligibility with LSU football

Adding to an already impressive transfer portal haul over the last week or so, LSU football gained the commitment of yet another SEC defender, as edge rusher Jack Pyburn will make his way over from Florida for his final season of eligibility.

Former Florida starter Jack Pyburn becomes second edge rusher to announce transfer commitment to LSU this cycle

It wasn’t long ago that experience was looking like a serious weakness within the LSU football edge rusher room. As a matter of fact, incoming true sophomore Gabriel Reliford was the only player with meaningful game experience, and edge rushers coach Kevin Peoples was expected to have his hands full ahead of the 2025 season.

Fortunately, a mentality shift from head coach Brian Kelly very well might have saved the room in the early portions of the 2025 transfer portal period. First getting a commitment from Nebraska veteran Jimari Butler, it became clear early on that edge rusher was a priority this offseason.

As we find ourselves exactly one week into the December transfer portal period, we now have a much improved grasp at how things will look for the position room next season, with former Florida edge rusher Jack Pyburn announcing his commitment to the purple and gold Monday morning.

BREAKING: Florida transfer EDGE Jack Pyburn has Committed to LSU, he tells @on3sports

The 6’4 260 EDGE totaled 60 Tackles, 2 Sacks, 5 TFL, & 1 INT this season

Will have 1 year of eligibility remaining

“Hold that Tiger”https://t.co/ERwIr080Cf pic.twitter.com/fo03yIFEVr

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 16, 2024

A three year impact player for the Florida Gators, Jack Pyburn was clearly underrated coming out of high school, ranking as just the No. 39 edge rusher nationally in the class of 2022, according to 247Sports.

From there, he’d go on to see playing time in 29 games over the course of three seasons, logging an impressive career-long stat line of 80 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, one pass defended and one forced fumble. Important to note, is that he’s currently coming off by far his best season as a Gator, recording 60 of his 80 total tackles in 2024.

While the pass rushing stats don’t necessarily pop out for the Jacksonville, FL, product, he excels in several other spots, particularly as far as his overall flexibility is concerned. In his three seasons with the Gators, Pyburn showed the ability to lineup as either a pass rusher or run stopper, and even displayed the athleticism necessary to drop back in coverage.

With Pyburn officially set to join Jimari Butler for the 2025 season, LSU football has a really solid idea of what their edge rusher room might look like. Even better, when you consider the retention of players like Gabriel Reliford, who showed flashes throughout 2024, the group has gone from a team weakness to potentially a strength.

The Tiger transfer portal class of 2024 is officially up to seven players (tight end Bauer Sharp, cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson, wide receiver Barion Brown, edge rusher Jimari Butler, quarterback Michael Van Buren, edge rusher Jack Pyburn and cornerback Mansoor Delane), and likely isn’t close to being done with the fireworks. While it’s hard to imagine things getting much better over the next few weeks, it’s largely expected that Brian Kelly is hoping to bring in double-digit additions by the time this period comes to a close.

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